Candles on the ponderosa

Unlike the wax candles on my coffee table, the candles on the ponderosa pines touched by May’s morning light glow as they reach as with reverence toward the Heavens.

Gleaming with life, the candles contain the spring growth of the tree. David Douglas, the naturalist, named the magnificent giant whose name Ponderosa means ‘heavy wood.’ Native Americans revered the long needled, single flush, (one growth of candles per year) pine tree for many uses including pitch for adhesive, needles for tea, logs for canoes, and dried bark for sweet summer treats. The ripe cones provide seeds for squirrels, c...